The Greatest Treasure of All
by FaithInHim4ever
Summary: Ten year old Charlotte Martin is a gymnast who wants to go for the gold.  She feels she must win everything in life.  Can Gloria show Charlotte that God's love is something she doesn't have to win?


DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own any of the characters from TBAA. They belong to Martha Williamson. I do however own Charlotte Martin and anyone else you don't recognize. Enjoy!

Remember, God loves you!

"The Greatest Treasure of All"

The sun streamed into the room where a young girl swung gracefully through the air and landed on the balance beam below. As the little girl, ten-year-old Charlotte Martin, practiced her routine, she was unaware that she was being watched.

Three angels stood in the corner of the room, observing the scene in front of them.

"That looks like fun!" The youngest angel, Gloria, commented, a smile spreading across her innocent features as she continued to watch Charlotte practice.

"Aye, it is, little one." The second angel replied, her Irish accent sailing through the air like a song on its way to Heaven. "I should know. I had an assignment once that was all about gymnastics."

Gloria nodded as she turned her attention to her supervisor and best friend.

"Did you get a chance to learn any gymnastics?" Gloria inquired, her voice full of curiosity and eagerness.

"A wee bit." Monica replied, smiling gently down at Gloria.

"It might look like fun, angel babies," the eldest angel, Tess, commented just to Gloria's right, "but there's a potential for danger here. And I don't just mean on the balance beam."

"What do you mean?" Gloria asked, turning her attention to Tess now.

"There are secrets to be uncovered here and not a lot of time to uncover them." Tess replied. "And that's your job, little angel." She finished, turning to Gloria. "Charlotte is your assignment. She's been a gymnast now for six years, but she's also using gymnastics as a means of running away from something. But sooner or later that something is going to catch up with her. And when it does, she's going to need an angel to pick up the pieces."

"And I'm that angel?" Gloria asked, already knowing the answer.

Tess nodded.

"That's right." With that, the three angels continued to watch Charlotte practice, each of them praying the Father would help them to help Charlotte before it was too late.

Two days later, Gloria walked into the gym, wearing an official coach's uniform. Her hair had been pulled into a braid, curtisy of Monica.

Gloria was going to be acting as be the new coach for the girls' team, but her main assignment was Charlotte.

As Gloria walked into the room, she saw a few girls standing around, talking amongst themselves.

Gloria smiled at them as she approached.

"Hi! I'm Gloria. I'm going to be your new coach."

One of the girls, a slim girl with chestnut brown hair and blue eyes gave Gloria a sincere smile.

"Hi Gloria! I'm Brooke. It's nice to meet you."

Gloria grinned in return.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Brooke."

"Kiss up!" Retorted one of the other girls. She had red hair and brown eyes that looked as though they were challenging someone to a fight.

The first girl, Brooke, looked offended. She frowned and stared at the floor.

Gloria could tell Brooke had been sincere in her greeting, so she tried to handle one thing at a time. She took a deep breath and prayed silently for patience. She then opened her eyes and tackled one problem at a time.

As Gloria spoke, she addressed all the girls at once.

"First of all, you girls need to know that I don't tolerate any trouble from anyone. You'll respect each other when you're here. If you do that, then we'll get along just fine. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. I'm glad we understand each other. Now that we have the rules out of the way, why don't we make sure every each other a little bit better." With that, Gloria picked up a clipboard and began to read off names.

When all of the girls had announced they were there, Gloria set the clipboard down. She was about to ask the girls some questions about themselves, but stopped when she realized that someone wasn't missing.

"Does anyone know where Charlotte Martin is?" Gloria asked, recognizing that name as her assignment.

Brooke nodded. She was always one to help out and Gloria seemed nice enough.

"Yeah. She's nice, a little quiet but nice. She's usually late though."

Gloria nodded. She wondered why this was, but she figured she would find out sooner or later.

Another girl, Nicole, spoke up just then. She had black hair and eyes the color of emeralds.

"Charlotte's always making the rest of the team look bad." She told Gloria. "She thinks she's better than everyone else just because she practices on weekends as well."

Gloria narrowed her eyes at Nicole before deciding on the best course of action.

Rather than encourage her behavior, Gloria decided to take the high road.

"Well maybe you could learn something from her. You could do better if you practiced as well."

Nicole glared at Gloria before engaging another girl, Sara, in a conversation about hairstyles.

Gloria sighed as she turned her attention to the others.

"All right, let's get started!" She announced, clapping her hands together enthusiastically. "Samantha and Brooke, I want you two on balance beam, the rest of you over by the floor mats. Let's get this show on the road."

All eleven girls obeyed, some more enthusiastic than others.

Just then, the door to the gym opened and a little girl matching Charlotte's description ran in. She stopped just in front of Gloria and hastened to apologize for her tardiness.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. I had some chores to do at home and…" Her voice trailed off as she gazed up into Gloria's kind and understanding brown eyes.

"Wow, slow down, sweetheart. It's okay. You're not in trouble, okay?" Gloria assured her, giving Charlotte a gentle smile. "We're just getting started, so you didn't miss much. My name is Gloria. I'm your new coach. You're Charlotte Martin, right?"

Charlotte nodded, shocked by Gloria's reaction.

As Gloria wrote something down on her clipboard, Charlotte took a few minutes to assess the situation. She was used to being yelled at whenever she was late, no matter if the reason was valid or not. She wasn't' used to someone talking to her so nicely or telling her that she wasn't in trouble. There was only one person who talked to her nicely and that was her older sister, Stacey. But Stacey was away at school, so Charlotte was all alone now.

"Yeah." Charlotte gave Gloria the tiniest of smiles.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Charlotte. Why don't you get ready and then we'll start you off on floor exercises, okay?"

Charlotte nodded and went towards the changing rooms. She was still trying to get over the fact that Gloria was treating her as though she was a person and not a slave.

After Charlotte was done getting ready, she emerged from the changing room and went straight over to the floor mats. She started doing her routine and quickly became absorbed in it. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn't even notice Gloria come up behind her. The first indication Charlotte had that someone else was there, was when she heard Gloria clap and felt herself fall to her right and land on the ground.

Brushing herself off, Charlotte quickly got up and prepared to do the move over again, but was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte. I didn't' mean to startle you. Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Gloria asked, worried for Charlotte's safety.

Charlotte glanced up at Gloria with a confused expression on her face.

"You're actually worried about me and not the medal?" She asked, disbelief in her voice.

Gloria nodded as she knelt down to Charlotte's level.

"Yes. I'm more worried about you than any medal you could win. You're more important to me than that." Gloria said, sincerely.

"That's new." Charlotte said, truthfully. "Nobody's ever worried about me before. All my other coaches cared about was winning."

"Well I'm not like all your other coaches." Gloria told her. "I care about you. Now, are you okay? It was my fault you fell. I didn't mean to startle you."

Charlotte nodded.

"I'm okay."

Gloria smiled.

"I'm glad. Now, what do you say you take a little break and then try again." Gloria suggested, extending her hand towards Charlotte.

Charlotte took Gloria's offered hand and gave her a small smile.

"Okay." With that, Gloria helped Charlotte up and the two went to get a snack.

"As for the rest of you," Gloria said, giving her other charges a smile, "you can take a break too."

Everyone cheered at this and finished up what they were doing before taking Gloria up on her offer.

Before Charlotte knew it, practice had ended and it was time to return home. She didn't want to go, so she did what she always did to avoid it, practice late. The latest she could stay at the gym was five-thirty and then she would have to go home.

As five-thirty rolled around, Charlotte sighed and resigned to going home. She did a final dismount before gathering up her things and heading for the changing room.

After Charlotte had changed back into her regular clothes, she heaved a sigh and left the building. She was about to turn the corner and head home, when she heard someone call her name.

"Charlotte? Charlotte, wait up, sweetheart!"

Charlotte stopped and turned around to see who had called her name. She found herself face to face with Gloria. The young woman was standing by a red catalac, smiling from ear to ear.

"Charlotte, would you like a ride home?" Gloria offered. "This is a rough part of town."

Charlotte hesitated. It wasn't that she didn't want a ride, it was just she didn't want Gloria coming into her house. It was a mess and if her parents were home, Charlotte would have a lot of explaining to do.

"Thanks, but it's okay." Charlotte said, hoping she sounded polite enough.

"Charlotte, honey, I don't like the idea of you walking home alone. Come on. I promise, I won't hurt you. Like I said earlier, I'm not like other coaches."

Gloria gave Charlotte a sincere smile.

Charlotte gazed into Gloria's eyes and that's when she felt it. It was an overwhelming sense of trust for the young woman in front of her. Charlotte couldn't explain it, but she just felt like she could trust Gloria with anything.

"Okay." Charlotte finally said, smiling shyly at Gloria.

"Great! Hop in." With that, Gloria waited until Charlotte had put her seat belt on before backing out of the gym's parking lot. She had gotten better at driving since Monica had become her supervisor.

Once more, Monica trusted Gloria far more than Tess had trusted anyone with the car when she, Tess had owned it.

Charlotte gave Gloria directions to her house and tried to enjoy the twenty minute ride back to the nightmare she lived every night.

During the ride, Charlotte and Gloria talked about anything and everything. They found out they shared the same taste in movies as well as music.

Before Charlotte knew it, they had pulled up to the house and Gloria was parking the car.

"You don't have to come in with me." Charlotte insisted. "Really, it's okay."

"Are you sure, sweetie?" Gloria asked, wanting to make sure Charlotte was going to be okay.

I'm sure." Charlotte replied. "Thanks for the ride, Gloria."

Gloriagrinned.

"It's my pleasure. I don't mind. So, I'll see you tomorrow."

Charlotte nodded.

"Yup. 'Night." With that, Charlotte exited the car and made her way up the stairs to the front door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her father's car wasn't in the driveway. That meant he wasn't home from work yet.

As Gloria watched Charlotte open the door and slip inside, she started getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She then felt a pull at her heart and decided to follow it. She knew it was God telling her to check it out.

Slowly and quietly, Gloria exited the car and shut the door. She then became invisible to everyone else and slipped inside after Charlotte.

Upon entering the house, Gloria wrinkled her nose. The place smelled of perfume and alcohol, but mostly the latter. She hadn't been standing in the foyer for more than ten minutes when Monica joined her.

"Am I in trouble?" Gloria asked, knowing she had left the car running.

Monica laughed softly.

"No, little one. In fact, you're doin' really well. I just came to check on you. You're doin' the right thing. There's something you need to see." With that, Monica led Gloria into the living room, where they found Charlotte cleaning up a pile of glass.

Upon further inspection of the mess, Gloria realized what the glass had belonged to.

"No, Monica, no. Charlotte's not being…" Gloria's voice trailed off as realization hit her.

Monica nodded sadly.

"I'm afraid so, little one. But there's more to this than just physical abuse."

"What's the other part?" Gloria asked, eager to help Charlotte in any way she could.

Monica sighed.

"Charlotte thinks she has to earn everything in life. Including her parent's love. She also thinks she must earn God's love as well."

Gloria gasped.

"Charlotte doesn't have to earn God's love. He loves her already."

"You know that and I know that, but Charlotte doesn't' know that. You're the angel that must reveal that truth to her. And you don't have a lot of time to do it." With that, Monica and Gloria continued to observe Charlotte, both of them fighting back tears for the little girl who thought she had to earn the one thing that she already had.


End file.
